Hey guys, and welcome to the column! I am the almighty Potatobrain, and it is my pleasure to invite you into my wonderful world of whacky deck building.

In general, here’s what you can expect from my articles:

1. I always start with one card and build around it.
2. The card is often overlooked and/or not very good.
3. I try not to make decks that are too expensive.
4. The decks must be fun and casual, but still be able to win.
5. Anytime I can make a deck tribal, I do.
6. Grooviness trumps effectiveness every time.

Alright, so let’s get started! Our story begins in the aftermath of the Lorwyn release. It was a glorious Saturday full of happiness, some wins, many losses, and general good fun had by my friends Maggot and Jay and I. In fact, we had so much fun that we each bought a box of Lorwyn and went home to open them up and build decks right away. We opened our boxes and roared with laughter and excitement at the many awesome rares we pulled, and then, as we always tend to do, proceeded to share cards to create our decks. Maggot got the Kithkin, Jay got the Faeries, and I remained undecided. I had taken cards to build a Merfolk deck, a Treefolk deck, and a Goblin deck, but none of them really appealed to me.

And so the guys went about playing each other, and I went back to the card pool and began going through the rares. “Let’s see now… Wydwen, the Biting Gale (cool, but not quite what I want), Ajani Goldmane (strong, but still kinda boring), Sygg, River Guide (sexy, but not very original), Brion Stoutarm (4/4 for four, and pretty cool art, but it’s only a 4/4 lifelink that can fling), Thorn of… wait. A 4/4 lifelink for four mana that can fling?! And because it is the flinger, I gain life equal to the damage flung? FRIKKIN AWESOME! This calls for a new deck. A large deck. A GIANT deck.”

I put aside my other semi-tribes and quickly began going through our cards to find all the rare Giants we had between us. Not too difficult, as they were mostly Red with a little White. I soon realized we had a ton of awesome Giants: Hamletback Goliath, Favor of the Mighty, three copies of Brion Stoutarm…

Here are the rares I had found:
1 Ancient Amphitheater
2 Favor of the Mighty (two mana)
3 Brion Stoutarm (four mana)
2 Sunrise Sovereign (six mana)
2 Hamletback Goliath (seven mana)
1 Arbiter of Knollridge (seven mana)

Groovy. I quickly ran through the commons and uncommons to fill up the other slots, and ended up with the following deck:

Seemed pretty good in theory. But, dear readers, theory and practice are two completely different animals, and so I decided it was time for the real test of skill: I had to play my friends. I called Maggot over and we got started.

This is what I played:

Turn 1: Land, go.
Turn 2: Kithkin Greatheart.
Turn 3: Blind-Spot Giant.
Turn 4: Nothing, and I lost.

This is what Maggot played:

Turn 1: Goldmeadow Stalwart.
Turn 2: Wizened Cenn.
Turn 3: Goldmeadow Stalwart, Wizened Cenn.
Turn 4: Final attack for 14 damage.

Hmmm, I could see there was a problem with the mana curve. I had a two-mana guy in the form of Kithkin Greatheart, but he interacted badly with my three-mana guys. If I played a turn two Kithkin and a turn three Blind-Spot, the Kithkin got his bonus but the Giant couldn’t attack or block. If I played a turn two Kithkin and a turn three Stinky, the Kithkin didn’t get his bonus. The little guy had to go. I replaced him with Fire-Belly Changeling. This way Blind-Spot got his bonus, and nothing bad happened if I played the changeling followed by Stinky.

I now had a two-mana guy, two three-mana guys, and Stinkdrinker Daredevil to make my bigger guys cheaper, but I was still missing one more turn one and/or turn two spell. Worse still, if I didn’t draw a Stinky, I couldn’t play half the cards in my deck. Time to put on the thinking cap: If Stinky reduces the cost of Giants by two mana, then a worthy replacement would be something that gave me two mana. Hmm, a three-mana artifact that gives me two mana… I know, Coalition Relic! Luckily, I happened to have a play set handy (I had bought them for super cheap during the Future Sight period). I took out the Springleaf Drums and replaced them with the Relics. Ok, that’s one problem down, one to go. What to use as a two-mana creature that would be effective and relevant to Giants… and then it hit me: Creature? Who said anything about a two-mana creature? I just needed a two-mana SPELL! Specifically, one that could kill anything my opponent played for two mana. I was going to use Lightning Bolt, but I had come across Lash Out quite a few times and liked it. It lets me dig one card deeper in the deck, and thanks to the high mana cost of my dudes, I usually win the clash and get to deal six damage (three to the opponent and three to a creature). After the changes were made, this is what I had:

Awesome.

Me: “MAGGOT, COME GET YOU SOME OF THIS PWNDAGE!”

Maggot rolled his eyes and came over, and an epic battle began.

He started off strong with a Goldmeadow Stalwart, Wizened Cenn and Knight of Meadowgrain. I countered by using Lash Out on his Wizened Cenn, and played a changeling and Blind-Spot. We went back and forth for a few turns until I played a Giant Harbinger fetching Sunrise Sovereign. He responded by playing a Thoughtweft Trio championing a Kithkin Harbinger. We were at something of a stalemate, with him dropping many small guys and me dropping a few big guys. Unfortunately, by the time I dropped a Hamletback Goliath, Maggot had too many little guys in play and overran me by sheer force of numbers. We shuffled up and played again, and the same thing happened.

“All of your guys are threats, but I play more guys. Eventually I beat you because my army is bigger,” said Maggot. He was right. I needed a Giant that would destroy all of his little guys. Oblivion Ring and Lash Out weren’t enough to stop them all; those pesky little Kithkin breed like rabbits. I initially thought of Bloodfire Colossus, but that would pop my guys too. Well, when in doubt, Gatherer to the rescue. I typed in “giant,” went through the list, and came across this gem:

I think I found what I was looking for.

“MAAGGOTT, COME GET YOU SOOOOMMMEEEE!!!!”

Maggot rolled his eyes once again. But soon he cried when I PWNED HIM SIX GAMES IN A ROW!
Turns out that every one of my creatures was still a threat, and with four Harbingers and two Thunderclouds, I could drop the Shaman on turn five every single game!

I updated the deck when Morningtide came out. Here’s the final deck list:

The average game with the deck looks like this:

Turn 1: Land, go.
Turn 2: Fire-Belly Changeling or Lash Out an opponent’s creature.
Turn 3: Stinkdrinker Daredevil or Coalition Relic (tap it for a counter right away).
Turn 4: Giant Harbinger for something to destroy my opponent.
Turn 5: Thundercloud to kill his creatures, or Brion or Sovereign to get aggressive.

That is all.

See you in a few weeks folks, hope you liked the deck, and remember, it doesn’t have to be expensive to be good!

~Potatobrain~

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The Apprentice Magician - Part Six.
Design on a Dime: The Lunch Meat Edition!
Fit the Flavor 2008 - FINALE!
The Games People Play - Market & EDH.
More Evil Than Evil.
Pauper Chronicles: Top O' the Morningtide to You!
Sarpadian Empires, Vol VII: Foreword.
Words from the Streetz: Uncommon and Common Magical Treasures.
The Writers Guild: The Inside Scoop.